Terminal box



L. P. HYNES.

TERMINAL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED ocT.8.1919.

Patented Apr. 25, 1922, A, 2 SHEETS-SHEET-l.

L. P. HYNES.

TERMINAL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8,1919.

1,413,735. I Patented 2122.221922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEE P. HYNES, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIG-NOR TO CONSOLIDATEDCAR-HEATING' COMPANY, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TERMINAL BOX.

Application filed October 8,

To all ywhom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, LEE P. HYNEs,a citizen of the United States. ofAmerica, residing in the city of Albany, county of Albany, and State ofNew York, have invented .an Improvement in Terminal Boxes, of which thefollowing is a specification. l

This invention relates to wiring appliances as used in connection withthe Wiring of electrical circuits and more particularly the invent-ionrelates to terminal boxes such as form parts of electrical circuits.

One of the objects of this invention 1s to provide a simple andpractical terminal box having great flexibility of construction and use.Another object is to provide a terminal box in which the constructionwill permit o f rapid incorporation therein of a great variety of sizesof electrical appliances such as fuses or resistance units, for example,as desired, without requiring a complete rebuilding of the parts. Afurther object is to p rovide a terminal box con-struction in which thebase or box may be of metal, and the terminals 4of insulating materialand adjustable in-relative position, having the above features soembodied that effectiveness of operation, compactness of construction,and convenience and facility of installation are secured.

Other objects will be in part obvious or in part pointed outhereinafter.

It has been found' in practice that, in designing electrical circuitsand lay-outs such as are found in railway cars, for instance,considerable diiliculty and confusion results in the building anddesigning of terminal boxes on account of the many and variedrequirements of the different railways. In order to meet theserequirements, which oftentimes call for various sizes Yand types ofelectrical appliances of which fuses and resistance units are typical,it is ordinarily necessary to maintain a large series of types ofterminal boxes in which such appliances are to be mounted, it beingnecessary for the terminal boxes to correspond to the many styles andsizes of appliances required for installment therein. Accordingly, it isnecessary to manufacture such a great variety of boxes in order to meetthe varied railway specifications, such manufacture being costly andnecessitating much special machinery, and tools such as jigs, templets,etc. In order, therefore, to simplify the meeting of Specification-ofLetters Patent. Patented Apr. 25,1922..

1919. Serial No. 329,199.

such railway specifications, and to avoid the expensive manufacture ofthe many types of terminal boxes, it is one of the prime objects of thisinvention to provide a single terminal box which can be adapted toreceive the many styles and sizes of electrical units.

vIn the embodiment herein disclosed and illustrated, such a terminal boxis shown adapted to receive a cartridge fuse. It is to be understood,however, that it is readily adaptable to receive electrical appliancesor unitsot-her than fuses and may well be used for mounting resistanceelements, for example.

The invention, accordingly, consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will beexemplified in the structure herein described and the scope of theapplication of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is av plan view showing a terminal box with lid open,

Figure 2 is a side elevation, and Figure 3 is a section on the line 3 3of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged plan view withcertain parts cut away to showmore clearly certain features ofthe invention, and Figure 5 is a sectionon the line 5-5 of Figure 4.

Figure 6- is a section on the line 6-6 of Figure 4 showing details ofconstruction of a fuse clip, and Figure 7 is a section on the line 7-7of Figure 6.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to Figs. 1, 2, and 3,there is shown a terminal 4box of sheet steel construction having avbottom or base memberl() and having end faces 14, front 11, and back11', composed preferably of a single sheet steel member made to conformto the desiredv dimensions of the box. A cover or lid 12 is attached tothe back 11 by means of hinges 13. The several before-mentioned membersare preferably provided with overlaps as at 10 to'facilitate their beingspot-welded or riveted together. Thus also the hinges 13, upon which thecover 12 swings, are spot-welded to the back 11 and to the cover member12. In the side members at convenient and suitable places there may beprovided standard knock-outs, such as have been provided in the endfaces 14,

through which may be inserted conduit members such as 15, fastened inplace by means of the nuts 16 and 17. The conduit members may be ofstandard construction and are for the purpose of leading the conductorsof an electrical circuit into the terminal box.

The base member l() is provided at each end thereof with an inwardlydepressed portion 18 having provided therein a slot 19 for purposes tobe hereinafter described. This construction of the bottom or base member10 is most clearly shown in Figs. 4, 6, and 7. The bottom 10 is alsoprovided with conveniently located holes 19 as shown in Fig. 1, throughwhich suit-able screws, bolts, or other fastening means may be em ployedfor securing the terminal box in place.

Turning now to Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, there is shown a fuse clipmounting comprising a block 2() composed of insulating material, such asporcelain, fibre or the like, and having its base formed with a slot 21extending longitudinally of the block itself and adapted, when mountedin position in the terminal box, to receive the inwardly extendingdepression 18 of the base member 10. The depressed portion 18, which mayextend to any desired length, coincides with the slot 21 of theporcelain block 20 and thus maintains the later in proper alignment. A

The clip mounting or block 20 is secured to the base member of theterminal box by means of a-bolt 24 and nut 25 extending' through slot 19in the depression 18 of the bottom and through the hole 22 in themounting 2Q. The hole 22 is counterbored at its upper end as at 23 toreceive the nut 25 of the bolt. It will thus be noted that by means ofthis construction the block 20 may be positively secured at any desiredposition over the depression 18, any change in position beingfacilitated by the slot 19 with which the bolt 24 co-operates. It willfurther be'noted that the head 26 of the bolt -on the exterior side ofthe bottom at all times falls withinthe depression 18 and is thusmaintained inside of the exterior plane of the base. The details of thisconstruction are clearly shown in'Figs. 6 and 7.

Fuse clip 30, composed of a resilient material such as spring brass orphosphor bronze, is mounted upon a raised portion of the clip mountingor block' 20 and is secured thereto by means of a screw 29 extendingthrough the hole 27 in y,the mounting and threaded into the base portionof the cli 30 itself. The lower extremity of the hol)e 27 iscounter-bored as at 28 to receive the screw head 28 and' to maintain thescrew ata safe insulating distance from the base member 10. It will benoted that the screw 29 engages also a connecting strip 31 as showninFig. 6 and securely holds it in the desired position. This connectingstrip has the general form shown in Fig. 4, being provided at itsopposite end with a binding screw 32 (3c-operating with a washer 33 andwith the guiding lips 34 of the connecting strip 31 to engage and fastensecurely an electrical conductor, such as the wire 35.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be noted that there is provided at bothends of the base member 10 a clip 30 mounted upon a mounting block 2Osuch as has been hereinbefore described. The fuse clips and theirassociated mountings and parts will assume the relative posit-ionsillustrated in this figure, in which they are shown so positioned as toreceive a cartridge fuse 36 of any usual standard construction. Thisfuse is provided with the usual terminal contact sleeves 37 and 38 to beengaged mechanically and electrically by the clips 30 and is of therequired size and tvpe. Should it be desired to provide a terminal boxin which a fuse of different size is required..the clip mountings areadjusted with respect to one another by means of the bolt and slotarrangement and the fuse inserted into the clips in their new positions.In case the specifications should call for such a change of type of fuseas to call for a different diameter and therefore for different clips30, it will be noted that such fuse clips 30 are readily detached andeasily replaced by those of the size and type desired.

`While in the embodiment herein disclosed a terminal box has been shownin which only a single electrical element is mounted, this inventioncontemplates the use of more than one electrical unit' within the sameterminal box. Such a multiple mounting of units in the same box is afrequent practical occur- .as well as others, have been achieved and inwhich a greatly desired flexibility of construction and ruggedness ofdesign have been incorporated. It willl be further noted that a terminalbox construction has been provided in which a great variety of sizes ofelectrical units may be mounted and that this advantage is gainedwithout requiring the manufacture of a large number of ter- Ininalboxes, each corresponding to a certain definite size of electricalappliance or unit to be mounted therein.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention andas various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, itis to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in theaccompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, in combination, a metallic boxhaving a base member, means for mechanically and electrically engagingan electrical unit, insulating ymountings on said base member for saidAmeans, one of said mountings being adjust- 15` ing said mountings to theside member.

3. In a device of the class described, in combination, a metallic box,mountings of insulating material disposed in said box, said mountingsbeing adjustable toward and away from one another, securing means forsaid mountings attaching them to the metallic box, and clips upon saidmountings for-securing an electrical device in place.

4. In a device of the cla-ss described, in combination, a metallic boxhaving a longitudinally extending depression, said depression beingprovided with a slot, clips for engaging an electrical unit, insulatingmountings disposed in saidbox for carrying said clips, one of saidmountings being pro# vided with a slot for cooperating with saiddepression, and means extending through said first-mentioned slotfor-fastening said mounting to said box and adjustably relative to theother. n

5. In a device of the class described, in combination, a metallic box,spring clips `for securing an electrical device in place,

mountings for said clips disposed within` the box, securing means forsaid mountings attaching them to the metallic box and adjustab e. withrespect to one another, saidmountings being composedv of insulatingmafterial for insulating said `clips from said securing means.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my vname to this specification this1st day of October, 1919.

LEE-P, I-IYNES.

